How to avoid BlueBird shut downs. Share your thoughts here.
#76
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 170
In my Opinion, Bluebird loses nothing if somebody uses VR bought on credit cards and funds Bluebird account.
It is the credit card companies which pay cash back or points or miles to customers are the affected parties.
Like Chase Ink together with Office Depot made sure that Vanilla Reloads which were offered 5X earlier are not made available anymore at that location.
Most 5% cashback come with a cap- typically $1500. Card companies can sustain 2% cashback or miles for a longer period compared to Chase Ink / Office depot where points and limits were both higher thus unsustainable.
It is the credit card companies which pay cash back or points or miles to customers are the affected parties.
Like Chase Ink together with Office Depot made sure that Vanilla Reloads which were offered 5X earlier are not made available anymore at that location.
Most 5% cashback come with a cap- typically $1500. Card companies can sustain 2% cashback or miles for a longer period compared to Chase Ink / Office depot where points and limits were both higher thus unsustainable.
#80
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: IAD/DCA
Programs: Bunch of mid-tiers
Posts: 1,034
Account now unlocked
The short version: AMEX unlocked my BB account and things appear back to normal. The issue seemed to be (not 100% sure) me moving money from my bank to BB. The transaction failed for some reason, and this triggered the problem. It took a rather long and detailed set of processes with AMEX to get the account unlocked. The details are below for those interested in data points.
The long version: first, some background. I load BB with the full $5k each month via VRs and GCs. I disburse it through bill pay, some bill pay/CC cycling, and swipes. When I first opened the account last fall I did the bank link verification whereby BB sends over a couple of tiny deposits and you verify them. Worked fine. I also did my own test where I sent $50 from my bank to BB, let it settle, waited and week, and then sent it back to my bank. No problems. The only other time Ive moved money was in late April. I had a bit of an imbalance between my bank and BB, so I sent $1k to my bank. I expected issues but there were none it settled with no alerts, warnings, or problems.
Fast forward to early this week. I tried to move $600 from my linked bank account to BB. I initiated the transaction with BB on Tuesday. I got a pending notice and it said the transaction would settle in up to 5 business days. On Friday afternoon I got an e-mail from BB saying the transaction had failed, call CS. I did and they were of no help. They had no idea why the transaction failed, no notes on the account, etc. I guessed some technical problem and figured Id try the transaction again another day.
Later on Friday I noticed I had missed a voicemail from AMEX. It was actually a fraud alert call for BB (sounded like a regular fraud call from AMEX) from earlier in the day about the same time as the above noted e-mail. It provided a reference number. So I called the fraud number (800-660-2454). The AMEX/BB fraud agent couldnt find anything, saw nothing on the failed transfer, and said the account was not locked.
After this I figured Id look online to see if I could find any issues but found I couldnt log into my account. I tried the iPhone app, could login but as soon as I did something a message popped up stating that my account was locked and under review, and to call the fraud line. Then an image of Cardinal Ximenez appeared and my phone went dark (just kidding on this one).
So I called the fraud line again and got the exact same agent as earlier. NOW she told me my account was under review. AMEX wanted to verify a bunch of stuff. First, she needed to verify my identity by calling the phone number listed in my account. She did (it was the same phone number as I was calling her from!), I clicked over and answered, identified myself, read my BB card number, she was satisfied, so I switched back over to the other line and we resumed the regular conversation. The agent then wanted to verify my bank account, so she set up a three way conference call with a rep from my bank. The bank rep came on, then the bank rep and I verified a bunch of info name on account, address on account, account #, etc. The only other question the BB rep asked was if the bank account had been open more than 90 days it had (like 10 years).
This was the end of the process. The AMEX fraud rep said she had to document some things in my file (my permanent record???) and then my account would be activated in under an hour. I asked the AMEX rep point blank what the problem was. I got the standard AMEX speech we constantly monitor fraud through hideously complex means that I could not possibly understand, but that everything was fine now. I asked if the failed bank transaction was the problem and got a non-answer. I hung up, waited a bit, and then logged successfully into my account.
Everything appears normal - I guess time will tell. This does reinforce my belief that the sensitive point with BB is bank links/tranfers.
The long version: first, some background. I load BB with the full $5k each month via VRs and GCs. I disburse it through bill pay, some bill pay/CC cycling, and swipes. When I first opened the account last fall I did the bank link verification whereby BB sends over a couple of tiny deposits and you verify them. Worked fine. I also did my own test where I sent $50 from my bank to BB, let it settle, waited and week, and then sent it back to my bank. No problems. The only other time Ive moved money was in late April. I had a bit of an imbalance between my bank and BB, so I sent $1k to my bank. I expected issues but there were none it settled with no alerts, warnings, or problems.
Fast forward to early this week. I tried to move $600 from my linked bank account to BB. I initiated the transaction with BB on Tuesday. I got a pending notice and it said the transaction would settle in up to 5 business days. On Friday afternoon I got an e-mail from BB saying the transaction had failed, call CS. I did and they were of no help. They had no idea why the transaction failed, no notes on the account, etc. I guessed some technical problem and figured Id try the transaction again another day.
Later on Friday I noticed I had missed a voicemail from AMEX. It was actually a fraud alert call for BB (sounded like a regular fraud call from AMEX) from earlier in the day about the same time as the above noted e-mail. It provided a reference number. So I called the fraud number (800-660-2454). The AMEX/BB fraud agent couldnt find anything, saw nothing on the failed transfer, and said the account was not locked.
After this I figured Id look online to see if I could find any issues but found I couldnt log into my account. I tried the iPhone app, could login but as soon as I did something a message popped up stating that my account was locked and under review, and to call the fraud line. Then an image of Cardinal Ximenez appeared and my phone went dark (just kidding on this one).
So I called the fraud line again and got the exact same agent as earlier. NOW she told me my account was under review. AMEX wanted to verify a bunch of stuff. First, she needed to verify my identity by calling the phone number listed in my account. She did (it was the same phone number as I was calling her from!), I clicked over and answered, identified myself, read my BB card number, she was satisfied, so I switched back over to the other line and we resumed the regular conversation. The agent then wanted to verify my bank account, so she set up a three way conference call with a rep from my bank. The bank rep came on, then the bank rep and I verified a bunch of info name on account, address on account, account #, etc. The only other question the BB rep asked was if the bank account had been open more than 90 days it had (like 10 years).
This was the end of the process. The AMEX fraud rep said she had to document some things in my file (my permanent record???) and then my account would be activated in under an hour. I asked the AMEX rep point blank what the problem was. I got the standard AMEX speech we constantly monitor fraud through hideously complex means that I could not possibly understand, but that everything was fine now. I asked if the failed bank transaction was the problem and got a non-answer. I hung up, waited a bit, and then logged successfully into my account.
Everything appears normal - I guess time will tell. This does reinforce my belief that the sensitive point with BB is bank links/tranfers.
#81
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,731
Agree. From the very beginning, some of us who have JT bank accounts found out that the accounts were locked when the same JT bank account is linked to both BBs.
#82
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: SAN
Posts: 1,395
But it appears to be fairly random. I have transferred money back and forth to my bank account without issue - and I know others have posted the same - but occasionally someone has an issue. In every case, however, it is always just a fraud issue, no closure or reprimand for "abuse" or anything like that.
#84
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: IAD/DCA
Programs: Bunch of mid-tiers
Posts: 1,034
Some good thoughts on bank accounts. The bank account that triggered the problem on my BB was not a joint account. The issues do seem to be random. Personally I will limit or eliminate my use of bank transfers - it was not worth the headache and time to resolve.
#85
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,731
But it appears to be fairly random. I have transferred money back and forth to my bank account without issue - and I know others have posted the same - but occasionally someone has an issue. In every case, however, it is always just a fraud issue, no closure or reprimand for "abuse" or anything like that.
Exactly my thought. I delinked the same JT from one BB and linked it with a different account. Only did very occasional withdrawals to drain the balances if they were not used up by month end - a rare occurrence anyway.
#86
Join Date: May 2013
Programs: Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 246
Can I pay a Chase CC that I used to buy GCs to load BB? I am sure people are going to bi**h me for asking/doing this.. But I do not have more than $3k of bills per month.. So, the balance $2k has to go back as a CC payment..
Or give a BB check to GF and transfer from her bank acct to mine?
Or give a BB check to GF and transfer from her bank acct to mine?
#87
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Chicago
Programs: AA, BA, CX, DL, EK, F9, GA, HA, IB, JL, KE, LH, MH, NH, OS, PG, QR, RJ, SA, TG, UA, VN, WN, ZH
Posts: 927
Can I pay a Chase CC that I used to buy GCs to load BB? I am sure people are going to bi**h me for asking/doing this.. But I do not have more than $3k of bills per month.. So, the balance $2k has to go back as a CC payment..
Or give a BB check to GF and transfer from her bank acct to mine?
Or give a BB check to GF and transfer from her bank acct to mine?
#88
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 1
Amex Bluebird did shut down today
Accounts got shut down today without notice. After going to 3 different ATMs and all saying invalid transaction, we called customer service. She said their systems were down for 2hrs and we could not use the card for withdrawls or purchases. We are so upset, this is our money and we could not access it. The guy said it's happened to many people not just me. We tried to escalated it but they said there is nothing they can do. 6hrs later their phones will not accept calls, "due to high call volume". I hope Amex Bluebird is going to make this big inconvenience right. This is unacceptable from a financial institution.
#89
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 375
Accounts got shut down today without notice. After going to 3 different ATMs and all saying invalid transaction, we called customer service. She said their systems were down for 2hrs and we could not use the card for withdrawls or purchases. We are so upset, this is our money and we could not access it. The guy said it's happened to many people not just me. We tried to escalated it but they said there is nothing they can do. 6hrs later their phones will not accept calls, "due to high call volume". I hope Amex Bluebird is going to make this big inconvenience right. This is unacceptable from a financial institution.
#90
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: MKE
Programs: Hyatt Diamond, SPG Plat, Hilton Gold, Club Carlson Gold,
Posts: 639
Accounts got shut down today without notice. After going to 3 different ATMs and all saying invalid transaction, we called customer service. She said their systems were down for 2hrs and we could not use the card for withdrawlssince or purchases. We are so upset, this is our money and we could not access it. The guy said it's happened to many people not just me. We tried to escalated it but they said there is nothing they can do. 6hrs later their phones will not accept calls, "due to high call volume". I hope Amex Bluebird is going to make this big inconvenience right. This is unacceptable from a financial institution.